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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: foot · chest · clip · tear · shower · game · content · stock

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. shower — to wash
  3. chest — a box
  4. chest — of your body
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. tear — from crying
  7. clip — a video
  8. game — a match
  9. content — the amount
  10. content — happy
  11. foot — a measure
  12. game — wild animals
  13. tear — from crying
  14. chest — of your body
  15. stock — goods
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. clip — for paper
  18. tear — to rip
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. clip — to cut
  22. shower — rain
  23. stock — shares
  24. stock — a soup base

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com